Tuesday, December 10, 2013

"Lurker" by Gary Fry

Meg
and Harry have retreated to a remote cottage on the northeast coast of England
to recuperate from the mental and physical stress of losing their baby. While
exploring the ancient coastal landscape, Meg chances upon eighteenth-century
quarry mines reclaimed by nature. But birds and butterflies aren't all she
finds.

When
a young woman goes missing, Meg must try to make sense of her many bizarre
experiences: muddy handprints on the walls, savage dreams, and a visit from a
stranger who may not be what she seems.

And
something else is lurking nearby, something that adapts and feeds on grief. And
Meg may not be able to stop it…

Until the last couple of years I was more familiar
with Gary Fry’s work at his
independent press, Gray Friar Press,
but since of late he seems on the role with his writing as well I, as an
admirer of his contribution to publishing, felt only natural to dive into his
fiction too. And for a while there is plenty to choose from, if we are looking
over the last two years we can see that Gary
Fry published a collection of short stories, three novellas and a novel,
while for the next two years he is due to release another collection, three
more novellas and two new novels. And the freshest of the already released
fiction bearing the signature of Gary
Fry is “Lurker”, a novella
published by DarkFuse.

After losing their baby, at Meg’s desire, she and her
husband, Harry, move to a remote propriety on the northeast coast of England.
But this seems to be the only common thing they share after the loss of their
baby. Harry is mostly away because of the job he still has in their former city
while Meg is left to cope with the grief on her own. Meg’s solitude is
accentuated by the remoteness of her new location, on her walks she is as
solitary as she is at home. But if Meg shares the solitude with the landscape,
the area’s peacefulness and calm isn’t match by her interior turmoil. Eaten by
sorrow Meg becomes troubled by the old quarry mine she discovers on one walk
and the references she finds to it in an obscure booklet from the local
library.

Gary Fry meticulously explores the entire range of
Meg’s emotions and follows carefully each new turn her train for thoughts
takes. Every little stress Meg suffers, each of the new things finding their
way into her tormented feelings seem to have a catastrophic effect on the mind.
But Gary Fry doesn’t reveal the complete truth to the reader, he masterfully
blurs the boundary between what is real and what is not, between the events
surrounding Meg in her new life and location and the things her mind conceives
because of grief and isolation.

However, “Lurker”
is not the exclusive ground of psychological horror, there are moments of
tension, supernatural elements and grotesque images creeping in. There are
things just outside the reader’s grasp making their presence felt. But as in
the case of the thin veil separating reality and imaginary Gary Fry manages to reach a perfect balance between psychological
and visual terror. None takes central stage while each has its role to play,
together leaving behind a deep sense of uncertainty. There is something to be
found for all lovers of horror in Gary
Fry’s “Lurker”, both the
visceral terror and the subtle, thought provoking one have something to say.